Pizza Day

Today was finally our pizza day for the unschooling group. We've been planning this for like two months now, but everytime we planned, something would stop it. The kids had lots of fun. We made our own pizzas, and while they cooled, we went to CiCi's and ate pizza there. Then the kids were able to take their homemade pizzas home to eat and share for supper.

The past two days have really been busy for us - we took Taliesin and Nathanael and a neighbor girl to the park a few blocks away yesterday. And we met our new neighbors. We found out the mom next door is planning to homeschool her two children. And she's from Panama, her little girl is bilingual. So they are going to help Taliesin with his Spanish. He's very excited. He started taking a Spanish class from the local homeschooling co-op; but the class was cancelled the second semester due to lack of participation. He was pretty upset with that. He really enjoyed the hands-on games and activities that they did. We've been continuing it at home since then. But he's very excited that the little girl next door, who is just a year younger than he is, speaks Spanish, and he wants to learn even more now!

One thing I've noticed with Taliesin is that sometimes his curious and talkative ways seem to push away some other kids. Taliesin is so inquisitive. He loves observing nature and asking questions about why things happen. Some kids love it. He has a few really good friends, and he makes new friends a lot. Like yesterday with the little girl next door. They really hit it off. But other kids just seem to look at him like "Are you from another planet?" He enjoys pointing out the simple things in life - a flower blooming, a baby bird, or a rolly polly bug. He loves being a "daddy" to his stuffed toys, but still enjoys rough and tumble little boy play. I think sometimes other kids just find his personality different. They don't really care about the things he cares about. Sometimes it upsets him, but most of the time, he just goes right on. I hope he never loses that sensitivity and caring. Nathanael, right now, seems to become friends with everyone. He also has interests like Taliesin's, but, maybe because he's only three, the other kids really don't seem to mind. I really noticed that today with the unschooling group. The other kids seemed to bond together, but Taliesin was more of an outsider. They still played with him and were not mean to him at all. They're great kids, and I'm happy we've met them and are able to be involved in activities with them. It's a great learning experience for all of them. But Taliesin doesn't really "fit in" with them as much. Not that that's a bad thing, I guess. We all have people that we fit in with better than others.

I guess maybe I noticed more today because I have been having some of the same feelings about myself lately. I'm a very social person. But I have noticed here lately that some of the people that I socialize with - especially at work - seem to have become uninterested in what I feel is important. I think a lot of it is because I'm very immersed in my college right now. I'm very excited over what I'm doing in my college, but most others are not. I try not to talk about it a lot to them; but it really does make me feel like an outsider.

Anyway, today was a great day, nonetheless. All of the kids had fun, which is really when real learning takes place!

Kandy